Pontefract 2 finished the season with eight consecutive victories to seal the runners-up spot behind runaway champions Queens as the 2021/22 Yorkshire Premier League concluded on Wednesday night. 

Queens finished their season of complete domination with an unusually narrow 16-10 home victory over fifth-placed Dunnington. It meant the champions racked up 17 wins from 18 games and amassed a points haul of 319 – a yawning 81 more than their nearest challengers. 

The second-place spot was up for grabs going into the final week and it was in-form Pontefract 2 who sealed it thanks to a 16-7 triumph at Chapel Allerton. 

Captain Matt Godson and no.2 Jake Robinson were on court first. Robinson dispatched Declan Christie with barely a bead of sweat on his brow while Godson downed Richard Hinds in four. 

No.5 Hollie Naughton was too good for Chapel A’s YPL debutant Dominic Cox. The Canadian’s winning backhand drop shot ensured the team’s win on the night and rubber-stamped second place – all the more admirable after Pontefract 2 had lost their opening three matches of the season. 

Chapel Allerton, whose season tailed off badly, regained some pride with Gabriel Cox beating Tom Bamford in five and world no.77 Richie Fallows beating Adam Taylor in the top-string dead rubber. 

The denouement to Queens’ magnificent season got off to a dodgy start when Sarah Campion and Danny Bray both slipped to early defeats against Dunnington’s Matthew Stephenson and Cai Younger respectively – but the Halifax side’s top order soon roared back. 

Magnificent James Earles completed 18 wins from 18 for the season by seeing off Julian Tomlinson in four, then England’s National Performance Coach Josh Taylor coasted past Luke McFarland after losing the first game 12/10. 

The top-string match decider saw England’s top 17-year-old Finnlay Withington take on former world no.20 Chris Simpson, who is precisely double his age. The youngster won a see-saw five-setter 11/4 in the decider to end Queens’ all-conquering campaign in apt style. 

Hull and East Riding’s 19-3 defeat at Pontefract 1 meant they finished bottom of the table by 25 points with just three wins to their name. 

Fiona Moverley, the now retired former world no.21, was the only winner for the Humberside club on the night – beating George Wileman in five games to record her 12th straight YPL victory. 

Alas, her team-mates could not match her as they all lost 3-0. Pontefract 1’s James Wilkinson, Carlton Oldham, Lewis Doughty and world no.25 Patrick Rooney all encountered little resistance, although the team as a whole will surely be dissatisfied with a seventh-placed finish. 

Defending champions Abbeydale finished a respectable third after a quickfire 17-3 win at Doncaster. 

All the night’s matches were over in three games, with four of them going the way of the visitors from Sheffield. Sam Watts and Phil Scully kicked things off before PSA Tour pro Millie Tomlinson got Donny’s sole win on the board by beating Nick Wall Snr. 

Adam Turner waltzed past Nick Ratnarajah and Welshman Elliott Morris Devred overcame Kiwi Joel Arscott in three tight games at the top of the order. Over the season, Abbeydale couldn't put a consistent enough run of results together to defend their title from 2019/20. 

Abbeydale’s cross-town rivals Hallamshire ended up fourth after dishing out a 20-1 hammering to injury-ravaged Woodfield, for whom club owner Rob Waller had to turn out at no.5. He was bagelled in the first game by 17-year-old Asia Harris, but she let him have seven points in the second and third. 

Alex Cutts, Harry Falconer and Scottish no.1 Greg Lobban all sauntered to straight-games victories for the Sheffield hosts, with Aussie Donna Lobban the only one to drop a game, to Alec Tomlinson at third string.